Monday, 11 November 2013

Future of Medical Science – Digestible Computers Now A Reality

Future of Medical Science – Digestible Computers Now A Reality

Imagine if on your next doctors visit, instead of going through all
the examinations, your doctor simply handed you a pill and sent you on
your way. But that’s the whole catch to it. They may look like normal
pills, kind of like a daily vitamin pill. But they are in fact
ingestible computers, which travel your system and report back data. It
sounds like something straight out of science fiction, but is it really
that far off?
Even though, society still has its apprehensions regarding the privacy
implications of wearable computers like Google Glass, scientists,
researchers and some start-ups are already on their way to introduce to
the world, an even more invasive wave of computing which just might be
the next big thing in medical technology that is to say, ingestible
computers and minuscule sensors stuffed inside pills. Although these
tiny gadgets are not mainstream yet, people are already volunteering to
test them by swallowing them in order to monitor a range of health data
and wirelessly share this information with their doctor. To make things
even more state of the art, efforts are under-way on prototypes of tiny,
ingestible devices that can do things like automatically open car doors
or fill in passwords.

For
people associated with hi-tech professions, especially astronauts,
these pills have been in use for quite some time. But the bigger picture
is to have the public see, what new doors this device unravels. And you
never know, maybe in about a year or two, your family doctor could also
have them in his medicinal kit. These pills are in fact tiny robots
equipped with micro sensors and transmitters, disguised to look like
ordinary pills. You swallow them with water, or milk or whatever you
prefer, just like normal pills. The rest is for the device to do. The
pills work their way to the stomach and stay intact as they travel
through the intestinal tract.
Referring to this new medical breakthrough, E. Schmidt, the executive
chairman of Google said that even though it may seem like you’re taking
an ordinary pill but you’ll in fact be swallowing a microscopic robot
which will monitor your systems and wirelessly transmit all that happens
inside your body. He added that if it makes the difference between
health and death, we’re all going to want this thing.
One of the versions of these pills, made by Proteus Digital Health, a
small company in Redwood City, California, does not even need a battery
source but uses instead, the human body as an energy source. We’ve all
done that potato powered light bulb experiment in school. This is more
or less the same thing. Proteus has added magnesium and copper on each
side of its tiny sensor, which generates just enough electricity from
stomach acids. The pill contains a sensor that interacts with stomach
fluid, as it settles to the bottom of the stomach and sends a signal to a
patch worn on the torso. The patch transmits information about the type
of pill and when it was ingested to a nearby smartphone, along with
physiological data, including heart rate and activity level,
medication-taking behaviours and monitor how a patient’s body responds
to a specific medicine. It can even detect the person’s movements and
rest patterns.
Executives at the company, which recently raised $62.5 million from
investors, say they believe that these pills will help patients with
physical and neurological problems. People with heart failure-related
issues could keep a check on their blood flow and body temperature while
those with central nervous system problems, such schizophrenia and
Alzheimer’s disease, could take these pills to monitor vital signs in
real time, The Proteus pill has been approved by The Food and Drug
Administration last year.
A pill known as the CorTemp Ingestible Core Body Temperature Sensor,
made by HQ Inc. in Palmetto, Florida., has a been designed to have
built-in battery and thus wirelessly transmits information regarding
body temperature as it travels through a patient.
The device has been used by Firefighters, football players, soldiers
and astronauts to enable their employers to monitor their body
temperatures for safety and health purposes. CorTemp was inaugurated in
2006 as a research collaboration from the Johns Hopkins University,
Applied Physics Laboratory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
According to marketing director Lee Carbonelli, HQ’s, the company
hoped, in the coming year, to develop a consumer version of this gadget
that would wirelessly communicate to a smartphone app.Future
generations of these pills could even be convenience tools. For
instance Regina Dugan, senior vice president for Motorola Mobility’s
advanced technology and projects group, displayed an example, along with
wearable radio frequency identification tattoos that attach to the skin
like body stickers, at the All Things Digital technology conference.
It is hence pretty clear that on all sides of this particular
equation, possibilities abound. With some proper protective measures,
both legal and practical, the idea of swallowing a computer to do just
what it needs to do may not be so out of line.